a major explosion at fertilizer plant in west where the death toll now stands as high as 15. and in washington the gang of eight's immigration bill is now ready for debate, this after wednesday's defeat of the gun background check bill. we'll begin with the breaking news in boston. we just learned that the fbi will update us at 5:00. rhett's get the latest from justice correspondent pete williams. pete, after yesterday's confusion, yesterday and this morning even, it seems everyone is sort of on the same page now. what's the latest you've got for us? >> well, i think the fbi is having this news conference is they want to show some pictures. these are pictures of two men that they're most eager to identify, find, and interview based on their review of all the mountain of pictures they've received. it's really quite extraordinary when you think about it that the fbi made this request for pictures. they were inundated with an amount of data equivalent to 25,000 hours of youtube video. what they got was higher

resolution, so it's not that many hours but that gives you the idea of the sheer tonnage of vehicle and they managed to look at great deal of that and hone in on two people whose movements and behavior have raised some questions that they would like to answer. they want to try to find these people. so far they've not been able. they can clearly see their faces, but they don't know their names. they don't know who they are. they want to try to find out who they are and they're asking -- i believe they're going to ask for public help here. that will be the main business today at this fbi news conference at 5:00. >> and, pete, do we know anything else about the two men, what they were doing that seemed suspicious, any other details that we have on that? >> we don't know precisely what they were doing, but let me come at it this way. let me say that what they have been looking for all along is they believe that the bombs were carried to the scene in backpacks or duffel bags, so

they're looking for people who were doing that. they'll be looking for people where the bombs went off. these are pieces of the bomb and they will be looking for people who were exhibiting odd behavior, dumping their backpacks and duffel bags and leaving the area. so precisely what they were doing and where, we'll hear about that at 5:00 but that's the kind of thing that would have aroused their interest. >> nbc pete williams. thank you again for all your reporting on this. >> you bet. >> president obama and the first lady are heading back to washington after leading the nation in this morning's prayer vigil at boston's cathedral of the holy cross. nbc's peter alexander is at the white house. good to have you join us. >> they took off and are on its way back here. the president, as you know, has become so familiar with days like this unfortunately. it was barely four months ago that the president had to console the community in newtown, but today was very different. his remarks were almost defiant at times as he tried to comfort

the community that had gathered there, inspire them. he referred to the marathon as sort of a metaphor for the collective american spirit referring to boston as a metaphor for our country as a whole. he also vowed to hunt down those responsible saying, yes, we will find you, but there were several standing ovations throughout the course of his remarks including at one point when he said, you will run again. take a listen to some of the president. >> we may be momentarily knocked off our feet, but we'll pick ourselves up. we'll keep going. we will finish the race. and this time next year on the third monday in april, the world will return to this grade american city to run harder than ever and to cheer even louder for that 118th boston marathon.

bet on it. >> reporter: everybody in attendance said it was really a moving event. there were obviously tears in the eyes of so many people who were affected by this tragedy just a matter of days ago. we're learning new information, guy guys, about what the president and first lady did. we know the two of them visited with the fakly of the 29-year-old victim krystle campbell when they first arrived at the church. after the fact mr. obama and his wife split up. he went to mass general where he visited with some of the survivors as well as some of the families of some of the victims and the staff. his wife we're just now learning in the last few minutes spent the last hour at brigham and women's hospital and children's hospital speaking with some of the youngest affected by this awful tragedy. this is a very personal story not just for the president but entire white house.

dennis mcdonough with ties to boston. some of his tice including lisa monaco who briefed him on the latest on the investigation just moments before he took off earlier today. >> peter alexander. thank you very much. i also want to bring in two membership, michael ross whose city council office is near where the bombs went off and mr. walker. you just heard peter alexander describe the president's tone as defiant. what was the mood like at the memorial service today among the people there? >> well, it was needed. you know, my city council district includes the business district and it's where the attacked occurred, and we needed our president to come here and encourage us. the resiliency that he talked about that people responded to visibly in the room by getting to their feet on multiple occasions, he's alive and well

in our city and in the back bay. neighbors are helping neighbors, businesses are helping neighbors. we have one business owner who owns a cub cake story said it didn't seem right to stay close u birthday it didn't seem right to charge people. she opened her doors and gave out cupcakes. the clothing store that john kerry used to wear, they were giving out clothing to those who couldlet get into their hotel who were cold. the residents opening up their homes, internet, showers, couches. one back bay resident gave out every article of clothing from her closet to strangers a they walked by cold. just a real show of resilience here and our president really helped us as well today by getting people to feel that and to help us move forward. >> that's what boston is all about. the big city with a small town

feel. adrian, let me bring you in. i understand you were in the very powerful service today. let me play a little clip from governor deval patrick. >> just as we cannot permit dark ps and hate to triumph over our spiritual faith, so we must not permit darkness and hate to triumph over our civic fact. that cannot happen and it will not. >> adrian, what moved you most in that service? >> what moved me most is probably what moved everybody was when the president talked about next year's marathon. for something that was billed as an interfaith prayer service it was as much a pep rally as an interfaith prayer service and that was something the city really needed. both the governor and president were absolutely terrific in stressing the resiliency of boston and how vital its they

boston come back and how inevitable it is. >> picking up on the rebound, mike, you're talking about what some stores are doing. what can the government and local council do as you try to bridge from this trauma back to normalcy? >> well, i spent the last couple of days working with our local business community, local clergy and residents, helping residents get back into their home, helping businesses reopen. the church behind me. i don't know if you can see it. they need to open. people need to heal. money is coming in from the federal government soon and that will flow through local government and get back out onto the streets where it's needed to help people rebuild. one of the people i sat next to at the service today was the owner of marathon sports where the first bomb exploded. you know, he is distraught. his workers are distraught.

so, you know, he wants to get rebuilding but this community is getting ready to rebuild. we're all standing together and all pulling together. >> adrian boston, of course, we'll rebuild from this both physically and visably. what are the steps you want to see the people and the government of boston take to get us there? >> without question, the next big turning point will be when there's the arrest of a suspect. that's the moment all of boston is waiting for. we want to know who did this and why. >> well, hopefully -- >> hopefully we'll get some more information on that today. mike ross and adrian walker, thank you both so much. >> thank you. and up next we go live to the scene of that explosion in west, texas, and get a check on the search and recovery efforts that are now under way. is different today. money has to last longer. i don't want to pour over pie charts all day. i want to travel, and i want the income to do it. ishares incomes etfs. low cost and diversified.

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right now rescuers are combing through wreckage at a fertilizer storage facility. as many as 15 people are now feared dead including volunteer firefighters and more than 160 injured from the fire and the ensuing blast that was so powerful it registered as a seismic event and leveled homes and businesses in the small farming community of west. that is where we find nbc's charles hadlock. charles, where does the search stand right now? >> reporter: they're continuing to comb the neighborhoods, what's left of them, to try to find any survivors who may have made it through the day and through the night. they are concerned that they are running out of time, however. we're expecting another briefing here shortly to give us an update on the numbers.

as you mentioned, at many as 15 people may have died in this tragic explosion, and between three and four of them may have been firefighters who were the first responders when the plant blew up last night. they're still an active investigation going on here. it's going to be led by the atf. alcohol, tobacco and firearms agencies that will go in and try to determine what started the fire and what triggered the massive explosion that was felt for 70 miles around this area of central texas. >> wow. and, charles, the fertilizer industry here is rather large, especially in the midwest and south. a $10 billion industry. so we do know something about the precedent for this. this is believed to be at this point an industrial accident, is that correct? >> reporter: that's correct. but they're treating it first as a crime scene. they do that just because it's the right protocol to approach an accident like this because you don't want to start cleaning everything up and discover,

well, wait a minute, this could have been sabotage. they want to make sure it's not a crime scene. they're pretty convinced, though, this is what they believe it to be. simply an industrial accident, a very tragic one at that. >> nbc's charles hadlock. thank you very much for that. at this hour they're going door to door to search for paeople trapped in the rubble. a nursing home with residents was severely damaged and a nearby apartment building that's described as a standing skeleton. the governor is declaring it a disaster. >> i'm declaring mclennan county as a disaster. they'll stay on the ground as long as they're requested and

needed. >> anita foster is director of the north west chapter of the american red cross who's been hard at work. anita, what's the priority for the red cross and tell us what you're doing? >> we had different priorities last night than we do today. our number one job last night were to make sure that people who needed to get out of the neighborhood get out and had a place go. today we were able to get into the neighborhoods and actually get our first look at what people experienced and what they lost and what they might need going ahead. so throughout the day today our disaster mental health teams have been on the grounds, making sure we're talking with families not just about their physical needs but what they're going to need in terms of food and water but what they're going to need in such a traumatic event, not just for themselves but for their children. it's also unseasonably cold in texas. around 45 degrees most of the day today. so we've been doing a distribution today of blankets.

many people are still without power and without homes and so we want to make sure as they're staying with really tissues and friends they've got something nice and warm. things like that as we move forward. and then the daunting task of getting people into the neighborhood to begin cleanup that. will be the next step. but it's not going to be today. a little too soon for that yet. >> and, anita, as you alluded to, something in the neighborhood of 50 to 70 homes destroyed. you had an apartment building reduced to what's called a skeleton. you had a nursing home destroyed. where are people dislocated from their homes? where are they right now? >> well, you know, it was one of the things that was so positive last night. in spite of all of the tragedy is that the families that were displaced because of the explosion were just embraced by the other community members. you know, it's a pretty small town in texas. a couple thousand people. everybody knows everybody, went to school together. kids grew up together.

the whole thing. and so when the other towns folks heard that people were in harm's way, they came down and took care of them. we actually expect that to continue. a lot of multi-generational families. that was good to see. but i will tell you, it's going to be a long haul for people here. nothing is going to just get back to normal very quickly as all. >> anita, has the red cross done training specifically for this kind of problem or are you applying disaster response from fires or other more typical disasters? >> yeah. definitely. so how we train at the red cross is really a multihazards approach. we really do prepare for anything but there are unique qualities to each disaster. and even myself being a pretty long-time disaster relief worker, this one is not like other disasters that we've responded to. you know, when you think about the fact that you were probably just cooking dinner at your

stove and your house completely blew up from something that happened pretty far away, it's pretty shocking and the visual damage is pretty different so it does have emotional attachments to it as well. definitely, we train for everything and we respond to what the need is. >> and, anita, we understand there's been severe weather in the area today as well. is that hindering your -- the relief efforts that you all are ujds taking? >> well, the good news is wi finally saw some clearing a couple of hours ago, you know, where the sky got a little bit lighter, it stopped raining. but i'll tell you we got up this morning and had heavy rain, lightning, thunder, all of that, so, yeah, it really did kind of slow down the process of being able to meet withfamilies today. but thankly it looks like it has cleared up. we can move forward from this point. something people definitely didn't want to see. >> anita, quickly, if people

want to help what's the best way to do that? >> the one thing we ask everyone to do is keep these families in your thoughts. they really have been through a hard time. if you feel compelled the help the red cross, we always need that. rerespond to disasters every single day. a simple gift, texting red cross to 90999 of $10. if you can do that, we sure would appreciate that. >> thank you for taking a break from your work to brief us on what's going on. >> thank you so much. >> absolutely. up next, the gang of eight form amelie rolls out its immigration plan this afternoon. will it fair any better than gun control? we'll find out next. carfirmation. only hertz gives you a carfirmation. hey, this is challenger. i'll be waiting for you in stall 5. it confirms your reservation and the location your car is in, the moment you land. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. [ babies crying ]

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despite strong personalities and stronger disagreements on many issues we met in the middle for the dmon group. the bill is proof the art of politic

political compromise is not dead. this bipartisan agreement gives us a sturdy ship to ride out the stormy seas ahead. >> that was senator chuck schumer just last hour as the gang of eight formally unveiled its 844-page reform plan. the legislation filed wednesday include as ten-year time line for immigrants living in the country illegally to gain access. let's hope this does a bit better than gun control reform which took a huge hit yesterday, all major efforts at reform from an assault weapons ban to restrictions on high-capacity magazines and even the expanded background checks deal voted down in the senate. the outcome prompted an appearance in the white house rose garden by an outwardly angry president obama surrounded by newtown family members and gabby giffords. >> instead of supporting this compromise, the gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about

the bill. they claim they would trade a gun register. that upset some and inn turn upset a lot of senators. this was a pretty shameful day for washington. >> joe manchin blamed its failure on what else? politics? >> if you're looking at it and trying to evaluate it, they're saying, well, maybe the immigration and maybe guns on top of that might be too much for me to go home and explain. >> politico's senior congressional correspondent is covering all thea on the hill. thank you so much for joining us. >> great to be here. >> so, manu, we're looking at immigration. the gang of eight came out today. obviously we have some bipartisan support. but then again we had some bipartisan support behind guns too. what is the conservative response been thus far to the immigration deal that we've seen now? >> it's been sort of mixed.

i mean unlike six years ago the last time they did immigration reform, it died under a lot of opposition from the right and some from the left, too, from labor unions. they didn't like the guest worker program in that by but particularly among folks who believe it was given amnesty, providing a path way citizenship for those folks. this time around there's more division within the republican base. there's folks who believe they handled the issue wrong the last time around, they saw the elections. they realized they needed to do something differently. they seen the opposition divided on this. remember, i should caution this bill just came out at 2:00 a.m. the other day. this is going to be a very long and arduous process and the opposition certainly could build as time goes on.

>> manu, i want to talk about the background check bill which was filibustered to death yesterday. i want to ask you why did it fail, but first i want to run through five of the many theories that we hear running around on why it failed. the president says it's the fear of the nra. some are saying it is, as senator manchin just talked about, senators are being asked to choose between immigration and guns. some are pointing out this is a party line vote except for these eight people. that's a different story, but let ee see if we can show the eight senators who vote, the democrats who voted no, most of them rural, the republicans who voted yes. but beyond that, it's pretty much a party line vote and joe scarborough this morning says the party is moving toward extinction, angry that they didn't gogo for more support for it. there's also this lack of filibuster reform. there was an interesting thing

pointed out. the 25 largest states largely went for this. 33, yes, 17, no, but the 25 smallest states in the nation, 21 were yes, 29 were no. so perhaps a situation of rural state opposition was able to prevail. what is your theory. any of those? any others? >> i think it's arithmetic. i mean 55/45 is how the senate is divided and the senate republican conference is still very firmly against stricter gun control measures. they do not believe in bucking the nra. the nra's a very powerful c constituency within the republican conference and you need 60 votes to get any major legislation through. you know, while there is support, overwhelming pup all right support for expanded background checks a lot of these folks do not feel the same kind of pressure back home. they're set in their political views on the republican side as well as, as you mentioned, those

handful of republican -- soy, democratic senators, four who voted against this measure, including three of who are facing re-election next year in red states. while this -- how this tragedy has shifted the debate in washington but it really has. shifted a lot of these folks' views who are still dead set against any gun control measure. >> see, if somebody was just showing up and watching this debate for the first time say yesterday, they would be pretty confused that a majority of senators voted to have background checks, a majority came out and said let's do something. it doesn't affect guns. it doesn't remove guns from anyone's home. it doesn't affect guns that are manufacturing but let's do something about stopping the flow of guns to criminals who murder people including american children. and so it's not that 60 votes have always been required. the constitution specifically articulates when you need a super majority.

you don't need a super majority to pass legislation and throughout most of history as you know, this country, we have n't attached super majority requirements. this president has failed the highest culture rate ever of any other president. and then on top of that the last point i want to make is bob edgar of common cause who used to serve in the house told the cycle yesterday when we were speaking with him that he can't remember any time in history in congress where there was also a super majority 60-vote requirement for individual amendments above and beyond the filibuster that's gotten so much attention. so isn't it fair to say according to precedent that this is getting much worse and that majorities are no longer able to govern in the senate? >> well, what we're seeing is a procedure real arms race in the senate. increasingly over the years the filibuster has been used by even democrats. now the republicans are the minority. they're doing the same thing to president barack obama. that is a very slippery slope

that is being -- that you're witnessing here, an increasing use of filibuster and the demand for the 60-vote requirement to get, really, anything through. i think that that's -- you know, this was a vigorous debate at the beginning of the year to try to change the senate rules. there are folks who wanted to do that. but the democrats, harry reid, the senate majority leader said i don't want to go that route. i don't want to eliminate the filibuster and weaken it substantially. >> why. >> why? because they'll be in the minority themselves and they'll neat the filibuster to block the republican agenda. >> and, manu, going back to the reform on immigration, what happens next? >> we're going to see a hearing in the senate judiciary committee tomorrow and then monday you'll see the legislative process begin and take shape after that. starting in may that same committee is going to start to vote on amendments on that plan, probably will pass that committee and then it's going

hit the senate floor probably in the late spring, early summer and they can get the votes, get enough republicans and republicans are pushing this. they want a big number of republicans in the senate republican conference to back that because they believe in that happens it will pressure the house to act and take up their measure. >> all right. manu rah ju, thank you for getting us up to speed. straight ahead, back to ton folding investigation on the boston bombing. we'll talk with a veteran of the 1993 world trade center attacks on just what goes on inside a hurj effort like this and who's really in charge. that's next in "the cycle." girl vo: i'm pretty conservative.

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today. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? this is not an ncis episode. sometimes you have to take time to properly put the chain together to identify the perpetrators, but everyone is committed to seeing that gets

done in the right way. >> homeland security janet napolitano. we're expected to hear from the fbi at 5:00 p.m. eastern. they have sifted through thousands of reports. and with dozens of agencies involved, there's some confusion. thank you for joining us. >> you bet. thank you. >> first question here is what a lot of people are thinking as we hear these reports of thousands of hours of video. a lot of people helping and submitting frphotographs. how do you deal with information overload when you're in one of these urgent investigations? >> well, you know, i don't consider it information overload. the more information you can get, you have to sift through it and determine what may be germane to this particular situation, but, you know, you always have to start at the scene. and once you get to the scene and start the investigation from

there, then you get a lot of intelligence information as to where you want to gorks how you want to go, and if you think about many of the events you had in the past, that eventually that type of investigation gets a license attack. somebody identifies something and you just have to do good law enforcement investigation to try to get to the point where you can identify who's the culprit of this. >> don, there are thousands of people working on this and several agencies at the federal, state, and city level. i just want to run through some of the names. the fbi, the doj, the dod, the atf, homeland security, home security task force, the national guard, the massachusetts state police, the boston p.d. and the boston bay transportation authority police. alphabet soup of people working together. obviously there are advantages when you have lots of organizations working and surely there are challenges when you have lots of organizations

working together. does one agency typically take charge, typically the fbi or dod and how do the ajegencies work differently. ? >> think part of the new world, all the organizations get together and depending on the type of crime or type of tragedy that's taken place, one agency takes the lead on this. in this case it appears to be the fbi. but we've learned through investigation and think the law enforcement has really worked on this is to try and bring in the agencies because each has a course of action to solve the problem so at the end of the day, everybody is really number one on the top of it. and that's how it has to work. >> don, pete williams is reporting that at 5:00 p.m. the fbi may be releasing two

photographs of people who they're interested in speaking with. take us through that decision-making process of whether or not to release photos, when to do it, how to do it, and the pluses and minuses of releasing publicly photographs. >> well, you know what? the information that's collected through the investigation process is what leads you to what you think you need to do, whether you're running an organization and investigation or whatever the case may be. and once you get that information, you've really got to take it piece by piece and step by step and i know that sometimes it appears as if -- and i know many citizen, great citizens in our country might say why aren't they moving a little bit quicker or faster. well, you really can't because you really have to take it a step at a time sometimes to ensure that you're getting into the right direction. so i just really think that you have to look at the information. you know, you have to vet the information and sigh what's good and bad and take off in that

direction. >> give us some direction. how common is it in this kind of investigation for the federal authorities to within a couple of days surface potentially photographs of interest for public cooperation? >> i just thing that's good law enforcement by all of the law enforcement agencies. even though it appears that the fbi is kind of the lead in this, and that's a good thing. somebody's got to be the lead. but all of these people are working together and their talents and trade and information gathered and so forth and i think that's what they have done is put this together and they've had law enforcement agencies not just in the boston area but perhaps throughout the country and the u.s. as to what information they have as to what clues they may have developed as the direction that they go. and trust me, oftentimes you might start off going and you think that's the right direction and then somebody brings in another bundle of information and you realize that you need go another course. but that's good law enforcement and good working together.

>> all right. don clark, thank you. >> thank you. >> we saw the city come together this morning at the in ter faith service, and straight ahead another moving moment that will show how boston is standing together. you're going to want to see this. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. now that we're expecting, i like the fact that i can go onto angie's list and look for pediatricians. the service providers that i've found on angie's list actually have blown me away. join today and find out why over 1 million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

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♪ o say can you see by the dawn's early light ♪ ♪ what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming ♪ ♪ whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight ♪ ♪ o'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming ♪ ♪ and the rockets' red glare the bombs bursting in air ♪ ♪ gave proof through the night that our flag was still there ♪ ♪ o say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪

♪ o'er the land of the free ♪ ♪ and the home of the brave ♪ wow. i got chills watching that. last night barely a few notes sumg before bruins fans joined in showing boston doesn't know how to back down. got to wonder how the attack could change the fan experience, the way we deal with sports. to talk about that let's bring in the legendary sportscaster bob, a man i grew up watching and perhaps in my mind the greatest sportscaster boston has ever known. >> i'm fine. i'm waving at everybody who comes by and blows their horn. >> everybody knows you.

sports has been a way to get away from the outside world and you get wrapped up in the game and in the last couple of decades we've seen crime scandals and drug scandals coming into the sanctuary and this scandal seems to take it to another level. you see the bruins moment a way to beat back the pain and when yankee fans are singing "sweet caroline," that's a way to beat back together and in a way the sanctuary has been kind of violated and it's hard to go back to all of that. what do you think about that? >> it's a very interesting question and speculation. no, i think that's not going to be the case. i think it will just be looked at as one of those healing moments that we need to grasp onto during these teams. there were not many dry eyes when rene rancourt who does the

"national anthem" for the boston bruins and sometimes the celtics. no one expected him to stop and everyone join in. it with us pretty cool. i think what happened at yankee stadium, the chicago paper, tribune sports page had chicago red sox, chicago bruins, chicago patriots. it was very cool. don't think it's not appreciated. we're not here on an island. we're not isolated. you wonder how oklahoma city came back or joplin, missouri, after the tornado, how cities and towns deal with personal crises that happen to them. you know, we've had them here before, but this was ours. this was our moment at a very big event in our calendar year, so you know what? i'm pretty proud of the area, but i would expect nothing less than what bostonians were able

to deliver and will still deliver actually. >> no. they're definitely going to deliver. and when you talk about using sports to sort of beat back the pain and move forward, i would expect nothing else of boston. and people in other cities sometimes cringe a little bit when we say sports is a little extra special in new england and boston, but if you can help us understand, you know, the fabric of the area that's really wrapped up in the sox and celtics and b's, and patriots. >> it's sports, politics, revenge. those are our three specialties here. we might throw in weather a little bit but sports, politics, and revenn't. people don't like the patriots because they win too much and people feel bad for the red sox because they like the cubs. we get over them. but this will be a very good

mobi moment for all of us, and believe me, we're all looking for something positive to take out of here, believe me. >> bob, as people in boston are looking at this tragedy, we're seeing a lot oftragedy, we're seeing a lot of the response through sport. marathon is a little bit different than, you know, a sort of stadium event. are people feeling that this is a sports tragedy? or a boston tragedy? or can you not really pull the two apart? >> that's a great question. i would say this would be a boston tragedy. this was not -- you don't look at the marathon as -- you know, it might be a sporting event for 20 of the elite runners who have a chance to run it. it's the other 27,000 there having their own stories and trying to raise their own money for their own charities. so 27,000 people, there are 27,000 stories. and everyone is impacted differently. so, no, this was not a sports issue on monday.

this was a commonwealth of massachusetts, boston, issue, and it was a usa issue and it was really basically if you're from kenya or ethiopia, a world issue for those who ended up winning. so you know what, that's a terrific question, but no, it was bigger than sports because the marathon is not a sporting event. it's an event. it's a celebration. it's patriots day. bigger than just an arena. and harder, obviously, to control. >> bob, you must have some experience, because i like the way you compliment the questions before disagreeing with them. is that a boston thing? >> somebody please tell me -- i'm begging you, tell me i asked a good question. >> yeah, you know, that's all we really need. i have a good question. >> that's a -- okay. i'll tell you, sure. absolutely. >> i have a good question i want to ask, too. and that's really about sort of how this looks to people who aren't as in to sports. this sweet caroline store as

been going around. people who like sports say it's amazing. what to you say to people who don't know baseball, aren't into that rivalry, okay, big deal, they played a song at a different stadium? >> you want me to say that's a great question? >> only if you want to. >> i got to call it the way it was. that was a great question. >> sarcasm. >> sweet caroline, how can i say this? it's a new thing. it's less than a decade old, basically. came in with the new ownership. and with the two world series. it's become a staple. there are some people here who don't like it. there are some people at the ballpark that love it and would hate to do without it. so for new york to pick that up, okay, here's what happened back after 9/11, fenway park sang "new york, new york." so that was, you know, legitimate, pretty cool. so this was kind of like their way of saying, hey, you know, there are some things bigger than the yankee/red sox rivalry.

and they're right. >> you know, you're absolutely right. even before all this happened, i took in a game at fenway park. i'm a yank cee fan. when they started playing "sweet caroline," the whole place started singing. you get wrapped up in it. it's beautiful to see you on our broadcast. bob lobel. >> my pleasure. i wish the circumstances could have been better. >> yeah, me too. up next, krystal calls for courage from congress. e set! ah beautiful. work the camera... work it...work it! those hands. oooh la la! magnifique! what's your secret? what? huh? dawn? how can this be? [ female announcer ] dawn hand renewal with olay beauty helps lock in skin's natural moisture to improve the look and feel of hands in 5 uses. [ sponge ] gotta hand it to your beautiful hands, huh? [ female announcer ] love it, or get double your money back. dawn does more. [ sponge ] so it's not a chore.

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yesterday, the senate exposed itself as a sham and as a dino, democracy in name only, when it voted down background checks that would make it more

difficult for criminals and the mentality ill to purchase firearms. 90% of americans supported the measure and yet it lost. a solid majority of senators voted for its passage and yet it lost. newtown families and american hero gabby giffords exposed their pain to the country and begged for a small change. and yet, it lost. so what can i say? what do you say when everything's already been said? when the case has been prosecuted and won, yet still somehow you lose? what do you do when you've run out of excuses? and make no mistake, we are out of excuses. in the past, we've heard excuses like, the president failed to lead. this time the president spoke with emotion and passion giving 13 speeches on gun violence since the sandy hook tragedy. he made gun control a focus of his state of the union. he made full use of his kr

charismatic and persuasive vice president. even the first lady made a trip into political tricky waters to call for a change. this time senators manchin and toomey worked together, negotiated, compromised, gave a joint press conference. they were a model of civility and bipartisan spirit. in the past, we've heard that the citizenry has to be engaged. well, this time citizen activists from sandy hook promise and moms demand action partnered with moneyed interests like mayors against illegal guns and giffords' americans for responsible solutions. they were smart, savvy and compelling. honestly, compassions have been any higher. so what should i say? i could serve you a cold plate of political analysis, the flat mechanics that may contain facts but no truth. i could try once again to make the case for background checks, but there's no need to persuade on the issue. we're already persuaded. instead of words and analysis, we must act.

we must force change. in fact, put aside the specific issue of guns and gun violence. there's a larger issue here. yesterday, the senate exposed a putrid rot at the core of our democracy that can't be concealed by any punditry or vague platitude. our only hope for this issue of gun violence and for this issue of our democracy is there will be self-correction, that there will be repercussions for the cowardly and rewards for the courageous. that we will finally force the mechanical changes to the filibuster that would start to allow the senate to function again. otherwise, we can mark yesterday as the day when that rot was exposed and permitted to fester in plain view. all right. that does it for us here at "the cycle." karen finney is in the chair for martin. karen, it's all years. >> thanks, guys. good afternoon, i'm karen finney in for martin bashir on thursday april the 18th.